“PHYSICAL barriers” should be placed on the road outside one primary school during pick-up and drop-off time and CCTV installed at another, a councillor has claimed.

Eastwood Park Lib Dem councillor Robert McMullan has been campaigning for an extension of the “school streets” programme, which has been rolled out permanently in at West Leigh Junior School and West Leigh Infants School.

The scheme closes roads surrounding schools for up to 45 minutes at both ends of the school day, encouraging parents to walk to pick up children rather than idling on curbs and creating a hazard.

Now, he has called for the scheme to be rolled out at Heycroft Primary School, Benvenue Avenue and Eastwood Primary on Rayleigh Road.

The councillor admitted the current scheme would not work on Rayleigh Road, but called for CCTV to be considered to enforce the same rules.

Mr McMullan said: “I’ve seen problems around my area, I’ve got complaints coming from parents shocked at the poor-quality parking, on the yellow lines, on the pavement and on the zigzags.

“Heycroft primary, particularly Benvenue Avenue would be perfect for it, it’s a dead-end road, it’s a couple of hundred yards. Parents park where they shouldn’t and it becomes clogged.

“The highest thing in my inbox is about poor parent parking, there is parking pressure around schools and every school has its pressures.

“It’s not always practical to make a physical barrier, the council is looking at using CCTV enforcement that will work in some places.”

Mr McMullan acknowledged the current school street schemes would not be practical, but said it would be ideal to trial CCTV enforcement around schools.

Kevin Buck, councillor responsible for transport, said: “The council is looking into options for many schools, but there are places the school streets scheme isn’t practical.

“What has been suggested to me is designated drop-off points to alleviate some of the issues. The council is always open to ideas but we always have to bear in mind that school streets scheme will not stop the problem, it will displace the problem.

“The plan is always to encourage active travel and public transport.”